The Stuff Men Are Made Of.
WHO are the men that are needed in this world? Young men that shall bear burdens. We have enough mullen-stalks; we want oak trees! We have enough mushrooms; we want timber! We have enough men that are willing to do anything for the sake of getting along; but what are they worth? They are bridges for men to walk over. They are tools. Men use them, like sandpaper, to scour with, and then throw them down, and trample them under foot. A young man that does not know how to say, “No;” a young man that has not the power to resist the cup when it is presented to him—what is he but a poor, miserable wash-cloth—but a rag, dishonored and put to the vilest uses? Who cares for him, or mourns over him, but some Christian mother or Christian minister? But a young man that knows how to say, “No;” that knows how to resist evil; that knows how to give buffet for temptation—is not he hardening himself? Is not he making his bones tough—particularly his back-bone? He is becoming columnar. And it is such as he that are sought after in business. A man says, “Here is a difficult department in my establishment, and I would pay almost any price if I could find a man that I could trust.” Says the man whom he addresses, “I know an impracticable sort of a fellow I think might suit you. He will stick to what he thinks is right at all hazards. You cannot turn him from it by any power on earth.” Says the other man, “I want a lignum-vitæ man; send him to me.” Let it once be known that a man cannot be cajoled; that he will not lie, even for himself; that he will not steal, and has a prejudice against stealing; let it be known that he has been tried, and that there is inward principle in him, and let us put him up at auction, and I will get a million bid on him.